diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index f88e3bbc..fa1b6f19 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -21,8 +21,8 @@ jobs:
       libqt5opengl5-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libunarr-dev qtdeclarative5-dev
     displayName: 'Install dependencies'
   - script: |
-      export BUILD_NUMBER=$(build_number)
-      qmake CONFIG+="unarr" DEFINES+="BUILD_NUMBER=\\\"$BUILD_NUMBER\\\""
+      export DEFINES_VAR=DEFINES+\=\"BUILD_NUMBER=\\\"$(build_number)\\\"\"
+      qmake CONFIG+="unarr" $DEFINES_VAR
       make
     displayName: 'Build'
 - job: MacOS
@@ -74,8 +74,8 @@ jobs:
   - script: |
       call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"
       set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Qt\Qt5.12.4\5.12.4\msvc2017_64\bin
-      set BUILD_NUMBER=$(build_number)
-      qmake CONFIG+="7zip" DEFINES+="BUILD_NUMBER=\\\"%BUILD_NUMBER%\\\""
+      set DEFINES_VAR=DEFINES="BUILD_NUMBER=\"$(build_number)\""
+      qmake CONFIG+="7zip" %DEFINES_VAR%
       nmake
     displayName: 'Build'
   - script: |